Larry Craig is very pro-Second Amendment and has represented that cause well in the Senate many times. He was apparently included on AR15.com's "naughty list" because he used federal campaign funds in his defense against sex charges several years ago. Craig is fighting with the government over whether that is legal. To be honest, I think his inclusion on that list has nothing to do with his take on the Second Amendment and everything to do with the accusations he might be gay.

Karl Malone apparently was quoted as saying the following in an interview:

Quote:

"Malone is hardly anti-gun. An avid hunter, Malone even has been a spokesman for the National Rifle Association. But he rejects the argument that athletes need guns for protection.

"I think it's just a smoke screen, just an easy reason to say you want a gun," Malone said.

While Malone supports the constitutional right to bear arms, he said he is skeptical of the average athlete's mentality when it comes to firearms.

"Everybody sticks their chest out now when they have a firearm on them," Malone said, mocking the thought process of the common athlete. "'I come up from the hard part of the streets, the mean streets, and I need my gun and all of that?' Come on, please, enough of that already. We're tired of that."

Steven C. Schreiner runs every year and is never endorsed by the nominating committee; but is often endorsed by guys like Neal Knox and other more hardline pro-Second groups. If you are of the view that the NRA is too compromising, he would be a choice.

To be honest, I think his inclusion on that list has nothing to do with his take on the Second Amendment and everything to do with the accusations he might be gay.

There's plenty not to like about Mr. Craig --his sexual orientation is irrelevant. He plea-bargained the original lewd conduct charges down to disorderly conduct, pled guilty to that, then tried to reverse his plea. The judge rejected that attempt.

As you point out, he is now in hot water over having used campaign funds for his defense in that case. He is being sued by the Federal Election Commission for the return of those funds. According to this story from the Associated Press, he admits to doing so, but says it was justified because the trip to the airport bathroom "fell under his official duties as senator because he was traveling between Idaho and Washington for work, and therefore the legal fees could be paid for with campaign money."

Suffice it to say that the judge isn't impressed with this line of reasoning.

__________________"Once the writer in every individual comes to life (and that time is not far off), we are in for an age of universal deafness and lack of understanding."
(Milan Kundera, Book of Laughter and Forgetting, 1980)

If we are going to use that standard for elections, then Oliver North has no business on the Board of Directors either. And Oliver North isn't a sitting Senator, so he just brings the scandal without the juice. Yet North didn't make the "naughty list" based on that reasoning and Craig did?

For that matter, Bob Barr isn't a stranger to sexual scandals while elected and he didn't make the list either.

Don't get me wrong. All three men have been outstanding proponents of the Second Amendment. It just seems only one of them qualified for the "naughty list" based on the opinion of the single guy at AR15.com who compiled the list.

Since the NRA has, in the distant and/or recent past supported gun control, picking out the nominees is like sorting though the best of the worst.

A posting comment from the JPFO said that Ted Nugent is in favor of NFA 1934. If you want a candidate that wants to end "gun control" as an intellectual argument the choices can be tough.

Since it is harder to determine which candidates might support any type of gun control I would rather put aside personal shortcomings/scandals if it means the candidate is actively interested in supporting absolutely no form of gun control.

If we are going to use that standard for elections, then Oliver North has no business on the Board of Directors either. And Oliver North isn't a sitting Senator, so he just brings the scandal without the juice. Yet North didn't make the "naughty list" based on that reasoning and Craig did?

Weather you agree with what North did or not, he is viewed as the person who "took one for the team" - if anything, loyal to a fault. In my eyes, Larry Craig is no Oliver North.

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